The Way the Wind Blows
by DC111
Summary: Sonic and Tails decide to visit Knuckles on Angel Island to wish him Merry Christmas. But it seems bad luck chases at their heels even on simple endeavors like this... or does it? CHRISTMAS ONESHOT.


EDIT: Anonymous review responses at the bottom so as to avoid any spoilers my replies might hold.

Well guys, we're nearing Christmas and the end of 2011. It's been an amazing year. I've had the pleasure of getting to know a lot of great people here on FFN, on deviantart, and on Sonic Stadium. (You all know who you are.) And though I'm not always around as much as I wish I could be, I hope you guys know I love ya. ^^ Everyone else, thanks sooo much for your support, comments, advice, or just for reading.

In a few days here, I'll probably be taking a week's break from the Internet in general, to enjoy the holiday with friends and family, get ahead with writing, and a few personal reasons. The next chapter of Survivor's Resolve for those reading it will be up next year (as in, like, January 2nd or something). As for this Christmas story... well, it's just that. A little Christmas story. Nothing major at all, so don't expect some big, massive, epic... thing. Though I do of course hope you enjoy it. :) Note the second genre, as it's probably a bit unexpected from me and not everybody's thing. Having said that, the slight spiritual undertone in this story does not take any specific stance, and given the circumstances of the story I think it actually falls into context pretty well. :)

THE WAY THE WIND BLOWS

The fox watched as a path was carved through the white landscape beyond at two hundred miles per hour. Snow erupted on either side like a wave, then fell back down in wet clumps. But by the time it got that far, its cause had long since reached the foot of his doorstep.

Sonic was home for the holidays.

"Heya Tails, I—oh. Ehehe. Oops."

Tails wiped snow off his fur that had come at him full-force when Sonic had come to a halt. "What a warm welcome," he said, smiling.

"Hah, good one. I get it."

"You're almost as bad as drivers. It's like everyone needs to learn how to control their vehicles all over again when winter comes around."

"Oh, so you drive now? Ain't a pilot's license enough for an eight-year-old?"

Tails's golden-yellow ears folded back in slight guilt. "Actually I don't even have a pilot's license. I just fly anyway. But no, I don't drive, silly. It's just what people say all the time."

"Right, right! So hey, I'm not too late, am I? What day is it?"

"The twenty-second," Tails replied. "Still too late as far as I'm concerned. I haven't seen you in forever!"

"It's too _cold _around here. I mean, just look at this place. Snow's pretty an' all, but not great running conditions. I bet you can't fly the Tornado much, either."

He shook his head. "Not really. Speaking of which, I know you just got here, but there was something I wanted to mention to you before I forget."

Sonic raised an eyebrow curiously. "What's that, bro?"

"Well… I, uh, was thinking maybe it'd be nice to give Knuckles something for Christmas this year. We never, ever see him around the holidays because he's always guarding the Master Emerald. You, me and everyone else all hang out, but never him. I'm sure it's normal for him, and it's not like we're leaving him out on purpose, but I just think he'd appreciate seeing some friendly faces this time of year. You know?"

"I think that's a great idea, bro. And you're the one nice enough to think it up, too!"

"I, um… I got him a scarf. It's nothing special, but he's got to be as cold as we are, and he's already got gloves and shoes of course. I mean, he might not even like it, but…"

"Let me see!" Sonic interrupted, gently pushing past Tails and wandering into the workshop like it was his own. That was always how it worked – when they got together, it was always as if they had just seen each other yesterday. Tails followed him in, shivering comfortably as the familiar warmth of indoors enveloped him. He'd only been outside a few minutes, and even through thick fur he was freezing. Sonic looked to be very cold himself. How did Knuckles stay outside constantly in this weather?

"That's it right there on the coffee table," Tails said timidly, gesturing to a neatly folded, dark purple knit scarf. "Like I said, nothing special, but it'll hold up and it'll look cool blowing in the wind. I mean, it's Knuckles, so I figured I should get something kinda cool."

"Don't wanna insult him or anything," Sonic agreed, rolling his emerald green eyes. "Looks just fine, Tails. You gonna give it to him on Christmas?"

"A-actually, the weather's supposed to be really stormy starting tomorrow and going throughout the week. You and I and the others can exchange gifts and enjoy the holiday on actual Christmas, but I probably should see Knuckles while the weather is halfway decent. But now that you're here, I was thinking maybe _we _could give it to him. Take it to Angel Island in the Tornado before it gets too much darker, maybe. It's a little breezy out but it's nothing our plane won't be able to handle."

"What're we waiting for, then? Let's go!"

"Really?" Tails's ears lifted. "Like, right now?"

Sonic smiled and slapped him encouragingly on the shoulder before heading for the garage. "Why not?"

Tails hesitated for only a second before smiling too and quickly chasing after him. "Yeah, why not? I call piloting!" He exclaimed playfully even though that was just assumed.

"Shotgun! Oh, waitwaitwait! You get the engine warming up, while I go clear the runway! There's gonna be snow on it."

"Uh, right, okay!" Tails opened the garage, letting the obnoxious brightness of winter flood in. "How are you going to clear it?"

Sonic shot an energetic grin over his shoulder on his way out. "How do you _think_?" he asked, and proceeded to tear up the runway faster than Tails's eyes could follow, leaving violent slashes through the snow like a supersonic snowplow. The fox momentarily forgot what he was supposed to be doing. Though he would never show it, he still found his friend's speed astounding. Sometimes he forgot he could almost keep up with that.

He glanced back down to the controls in the plane and turned it on, then quickly checked on everything to make sure it was up to speed. It had begun to get cold about a month ago and he hadn't flown the plane since then. In the background of his vision, the runway was shifting tones from white to gray as Sonic got rid of the snow, revealing the cement beneath.

"All clear!" The blue blur announced a few minutes later, leaping up and plopping back into the passenger seat. "Never seen a cleaner runway in my life."

"Bet you'd eat off it, huh?"

"Well. I don't know if it's _that _clean."

While Sonic was chuckling to himself, Tails revved up the plane one last time and then shot forward, making the hedgehog jump in surprise which in turn sent residual slush all over the place.

"Wow!" the hedgehog commented. "Somebody's in a hurry."

"Not very often speed can surprise you, huh Sonic?"

The Tornado lifted into the air, cutting through the frigid wind as if it were no more than a calm, lurid summer day. Tails piloted it like he was an expert in snowy conditions even though he wasn't. In fact, he could rarely recall flying in the winter. It was just that he was so used to the Tornado that he knew how to read it, regardless of foreign conditions. Angel Island wasn't even far; they'd be there in no time.

"Man, I don't know how that guy does it," Sonic said on the way. "Really, why doesn't he just take the Master Emerald with him or something? Even I'd go crazy not seeing people for that long."

"The island would fall if he took the Master Emerald," Tails reminded him. "It's a one-way street for him. But it's his life, his purpose, and because of that he's willing to put up with the cons. Just like you put up with the cons of fighting Eggman."

"True enough, true enough." Sonic kicked back and leaned on the side of the plane, quills whipping around in the wind as he peered out over the winter-ridden world.

"I bet you Knuckles feels the same way about you, though. He probably doesn't understand how you can put up with all the chaos and disorder. It seems ridiculous to him."

"You know, you've got a lot of smarts in you, Tails. That makes a lot of sense. I guess if he's happy with what he's doing, more power to him."

Snowflakes whizzed behind them in fuzzy blurs as the Tornado plunged ahead through the air. Angel Island came into view within minutes, its mountain peaks glowing white against the evening sky. Normally the mountains were a dark shade of mahogany, but the relentless weather left only a few dots of it visible. With the island being as high as it was, it got more snow than anywhere else below, but wore it nicely. In fact, the only thing brighter than that was a radius of blinding green near the front: the Master Emerald hovering proudly atop its shrine.

Sonic almost didn't see the not-so-bright red echidna sitting on the shrine's steps, looking natural and relatively comfortable despite the biting temperatures. With the Tornado coming from the opposite direction, Knuckles didn't notice them at all.

"Uh-oh," Tails muttered quietly.

"That's never something you want to hear when you're up in the air," Sonic remarked, not really sounding all that worried. "Is it a fixable uh-oh?"

"Uh, yeah, but not at the moment. We're slowing down, so we're not going to make it to the shrine…"

"Is the ice solid?" Sonic asked immediately, eyes going wide. Tails just chuckled.

"I said we won't make it to the _shrine_, not we won't make it to the island. Don't worry, I won't have to land on the lake. But yes, it is solid. What happened is that I should have let the Tornado's engine run for a bit longer before taking off, so the fuel could get warm and melt. Most of it is frozen, which is why we're slowing down. I kind of forgot about that part."

"Ahh, gotcha! No big deal, then. We'll just walk to the shrine from wherever we land."

"Yep! And we'll leave the Tornado's engine on in the meantime, that way by the time we get back it should be able to fly again."

"Sounds like a plan, bro."

Just as they landed, the plane's emergency alarms started screaming, alerting them there was something wrong as if they didn't already know. Tails rolled his eyes. "I gotta fix that. Kind of defeats the purpose of an alarm if it hesitates for _that _long."

"A bit slow, eh?" Sonic asked cheerfully as he hopped out of the plane – and landed four feet deep in the snow. Tails burst out laughing.

"A bit slow, Sonic? Deep snow plus downward momentum equals…"

"I mimt no ihwas drrp!"

"Well, now you _do_ know it's deep! Stick your hand up!"

Sonic did, the single white glove shooting impatiently out of a new hole in the snow. It really was unnecessary; the hedgehog had created a plenty big enough space with his landing to put his arm straight up without further damaging the smooth landscape, but apparently doing it this way seemed more appropriate for him. Tails, still laughing, spun his namesakes and pulled his older brother out of the dip, setting both of them back down on one of the Tornado's wings.

"…Thanks for that."

"Anytime."

"Man, someone up there really wants to give us a hard time today, huh?"

Tails looked at him blankly. "Someone up there?"

"Heh, it's just an expression, buddy."

"Oh." The fox pondered this explanation idly for a moment. "Uh, what's it mean? I don't get it."

Sonic swished a hand. "Ah, it's not a big deal really. Was just making a joke because things are always going wrong for us even when it's something simple like this. But… well, how to explain. Tails, y' know how a lot of people believe in a god and stuff like that?"

"Oh, uh, yeah! Like, some spiritual being that created us and watches over everything?"

"Yeah. 'Someone up there.'"

"Right! I get it now. Just took me a second because I've never really heard much about stuff like that. Didn't Knuckles's ancestors' tribe believe in gods?"

"I think so. You'd have to go back 4000 years and ask them about that one."

"…Or ask Knuckles," Tails suggested.

"Ahh, right, there's still one of 'em left." Sonic grinned.

"Sonic…" Tails looked thoughtful for a second, like he was curious about something but wasn't sure if it was okay to ask. Finally he decided that it was and looked up at his friend, blue eyes attentive with interest. "Do you believe there actually is… 'someone up there?'"

The hedgehog shrugged. "Beats me, bro. How would I know?"

"Then how would anyone?" Tails asked.

"Good point. I guess I dunno. What do you think?"

"I don't know either. I mean, logically it doesn't make a lot of sense, but we've witnessed plenty of things that aren't logical before. Like Chaos Emeralds, and… and the fact that you're, uh, still alive."

Sonic laughed out loud. "Yeah, guess I am, aren't I? That's a miracle in itself! We've gotten pretty lucky through a lot of stuff!"

"Hey!" a third voice called from somewhere up ahead. Sonic and Tails both turned their heads to see Knuckles gliding towards them. He landed lightly and gracefully and ran across the snow, feet only having time to sink into it a few inches before he took the next steps. "What are you two doing here?" he asked, leaping up and pulling himself onto the wing with them.

"Sorry, Knuckles," Tails said immediately. "We didn't mean to make you worried. I'd have landed right near the shrine so you knew it was us and not some intruders, but the Tornado's fuel is kinda frozen and we had to land here."

"So what are you doing here?" Knuckles asked again. "I heard noise over here and thought someone was screaming or something."

"That was the plane's alarm…" Tails mumbled, and rubbed his arm self-consciously.

"Tails here had something for ya," Sonic informed the perplexed echidna.

"What? For me, huh?" His tone softened ever so slightly as he turned to Tails. The fox blinked, having forgotten for a few minutes why they had come to begin with. Their purpose had gotten lost somewhere in the midst of their bad luck and their conversation.

"Ehehe, yeah. It's, um, nothing special really. If you don't like it, you can say so, but I just thought it'd be nice if…"

"I'm sure he'll just adore it, Tails," Sonic said, rolling his eyes and grinning. "Why don't you show him?"

Tails ceased his mumbling and hopped back in the cockpit to retrieve the gift. "Uh, here!" he said simply, bringing it to the echidna and pushing it gently into his arms.

"A scarf?" Knuckles smiled as he unraveled it and tossed it around his neck. "Ah, kiddo," he muttered quietly. "It's great. You didn't have to do this, you know."

"I know, but you never get anything! You just sit up here on your island all alone." Tails's ears fell for a second and before he realized what he was doing, he gave Knuckles a quick hug. The guardian stiffened in surprised for a brief moment before awkwardly patting him on the shoulder. "I hope you have a good Christmas, Knuckles. You know you can come join us anytime you want."

Sonic, standing in the background of the exchange, smiled on at his friend's kindness. For a kid who had grown up being bullied and ridiculed, Tails had a lot of compassion. When they both turned to him, the blue blur put one hand on his hip, pointed at Knuckles's scarf with his other one, and said lightheartedly, "Brings out your eyes."

"Very funny, hedgehog. I guess now my question is what are _you _doing here?"

"Why, expecting a gift from me too, Knuckster? My presence is your present!"

Knuckles and Tails exchanged a glance and shook their heads. Just then, a gust of wind blew and something gave on the mountainside off in the distance. An avalanche of snow cascaded down over the Master Emerald's shrine, swallowing it whole. They could feel the force of it in the ground. The white fluff that was normally so harmless rocked the island like a storm, some of it even falling off the edge to land on the lake below. The faint green glow of the Master Emerald was visible through the giant mound, the gem's power having kept it in place despite the relentless rush of snow.

For a moment, all three of them stood there stunned. Then Knuckles's reaction broke through his quiet disbelief and he slammed an angry fist down on the wing. "Dammit! Now I've got to dig it out! Should have_ known_ this was coming with as much snow as I've gotten up here." He took a running jump off the wing, heading hastily for the shrine. "Uhh, thanks for the scarf!"

"Anytime…" Tails breathed, still staring wide-eyed at the result of the torrent. Sonic, next to him, stared too.

"I dunno what Knux is complaining about. He's lucky _he _didn't get caught in that. The sheer force of that much snow all at once…" He trailed off and didn't finish the sentence.

"Yeah. Lucky. And so are we, Sonic. If our fuel hadn't been frozen, all three of us would have gotten pummeled with that!"

Sonic let out a low whistle. "Wow. All righty then! At least Knuckles is good at digging. I'm sure he'll get his pet rock outta there in no time."

"Looks like I should have gotten him a full snowsuit!" Tails said with a laugh. A scarf did seem rather insignificant given the new circumstances. "Hopefully the Master Emerald emits some heat."

"No kidding! Speaking of heat, you s'ppose the fuel is melted yet? After diving into that snow I could totally use a fireplace right about now."

"A few more minutes, I think," Tails said. "I just want to be sure. You'd rather be cold for a few more minutes than risk having to land on the ice, wouldn't you?"

"Absolutely, bud. Wanna explore or something while we wait?"

"You can't even sit still for another five minutes, huh? Sure, let's go! Want to maybe go see how much snow fell off the island?"

"I was just thinking that!"

They got off the wing, Sonic letting himself down easily rather than leaping in with both feet this time, and carefully they made their way across the snow. They kept away from the shrine, since their echidna friend was busy bulldozing his way through the thick layers.

"Think that's a regular occurrence? Avalanches here, I mean?"

"Could be," Tails replied thoughtfully. "We had to snowboard away from one that time, remember?"

"Yeah, when we were looking for the Emeralds so we could stop Chaos," Sonic said. "Good times!"

"That avalanche we encountered was from the _other_ direction, though. Most of them probably are, actually, since the wind usually blows that way. It's probably pretty rare for an avalanche to go towards the shrine like that. I bet that's the reason the shrine was put there, and why Knuckles was so surprised that happened."

"Makes sense to me. I mean, Angel Island's so high up and so isolated it probably gets a ton of wind, especially in winter. Hopefully it doesn't cause any more avalanches toward Knux."

"Yeah."

Once they reached the enormous mound, they approached the island's edge carefully and peered down. Another huge mass of snow rested upon the lake indifferently. The last of it was still trickling down from the island and landing on top of the pile like sand in an hourglass.

"Guess the ice _is _solid," Sonic commented.

"Sonic!" Tails said suddenly, shaking his brother's shoulder with excited urgency. The hedgehog automatically hopped back away from the edge, startled as Tails's contact nearly made him lose his balance. "Look – out there!"

Sonic recovered and raised his head. What he saw took his breath away. Before them in the night sky was a profound, majestic aurora. Its colors were spread out beautifully, like a giant work of art on the canvas of space. It was utterly mesmerizing. Captivating like nothing either of them had seen before.

Sonic blinked. "Best. Christmas lights. Ever."

"Yeah. I… I don't even get it." Tails shook his head in disbelief. "Usually you have to be waaay up north to see something like this. Every now and then it's visible from lower latitudes, but not often at all."

"Maybe Angel Island being up high has something to do with it?"

"No idea. But either way, it's beautiful. I think I'll go get Knuckles in a minute so he can see too!"

"Good idea, bro. And you know, since the Master Emerald is safely buried and all, maybe that's all the more reason for him to come back down to the surface with us for Christmas. We should try to convince him, you think?"

"Definitely!" Tails turned his head back to the expanse before them, gazing in awe. It was hard not to. "Man, it's so awesome. I've only ever seen things like this in pictures!"

"Same here," Sonic said, sharing in the fox's astonishment. "And I have seen a _lot _of cool stuff!"

"We couldn't see it before because it wasn't dark enough yet… and then after we landed, that big ol' avalanche got in the way. So I guess I'm glad the Tornado gave us an excuse to come over here. Sonic… I think Christmas is made for me today! What a day, you know? You came back, we gave Knuckles his present, and now this."

"Christmas always kinda has this magical quality about it," Sonic said, smiling down at his young friend, "but I don't think it's ever been _this _cool! In more ways than one, come to think of it… but I'm glad I came back even though it's freezing."

Tails nodded. "Me too, Sonic. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, buddy." Sonic cast his gaze back out to the view in front of them, watching the sky's colors dance on the icy landscape. "Y' know… if there is 'someone up there,' he's a pretty neat guy."

xxx

Well, that's that. :) And on that note I wish every one of you a wonderful and safe holiday and New Year. There is no better time to appreciate your family and friends, or to pick someone up who could use a smile, like Sonic and Tails did for Knux. I'll see you guys again soon!

DanceDream: Thanks so much! I was hoping you would see this one, for obvious reasons. :) Also I am so sorry about your sibling. :( I sincerely hope you and yours can still find peace and joy in the holiday though, and I am very glad to hear that this humble lil' story was able to make you feel a little better. Heh, I don't mind you expanding at all, and some part of me expected that. And I'm going to expand back! XP I am Christian as well and have no problem saying so, but at the same time, the characters I write are not me, so I typed it how I thought they would see it rather than how I would see it (because yeah, those things would be obvious to me too). And I think Sonic _did _think of those 'coincidences' that you pointed out, hence his last line of dialogue. ;) I also appreciate that you noticed all those things, like them being safe from the avalanche and then the circumstances being just right for them to witness that wonderful view, because it wasn't written that way by coincidence ;) and what you said was how I intended it. It's just something I wanted readers to see for themselves instead of typing it obviously and destroying the subtlety of the moment... or to just enjoy the story for the friendshippy stuff if they want since obviously not everyone shares the same beliefs. Again, thanks for reading and commenting! So glad you read this. It's always nice to hear from a kindred spirit. :) Merry Christmas to ya.

The Meddler: Hey there! And thanks, I'm glad you liked it. You know, in my head I wanted it to be part of SOME continuity, whether it be part of the Undestined Future series or taking place sometime after the games. Tails pointing out that Sonic is "still alive" could easily be considered a reference to the end of Beyond the Chaos amongst other instances. ;) If it's Undestined Future-related I'd probably stick it a few months after the end of The Dark Side of the Moon. It's open to anybody's interpretation really, but to those who read Undestined Future it probably makes the most sense that way.


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